Issue - meetings

To consider the report of the Director Net Zero and City Management.

Agreed:

RECOMMENDED that Council:-

(1)  note the work undertaken by the Plant Based Food Task and Finish Group and endorse the new City Council Sustainable Food Policy;

(2)  agree that the Sustainable Food Policy be reviewed after six months and is brought back to Executive on 28 November 2023;

(3)  raise awareness within the local business community of the work undertaken by the South West Food Hub and the national Dynamic Purchasing UK to support local suppliers and producers to gain new public sector contracts; and

(4)  agree for the Net Zero & Business team to:-

• review the Single Use Plastic Notice of Motion that was carried at Council on 24 April 2018;
• develop a range of KPI’s to monitor the Sustainable Food Policy and carbon emissions associated with the City Council buying food and drink for consumption through Council meetings, Council events and within Council run sites;
• work with Procurement in developing an approved supplier list for the catering of Council meetings and Council events, in line with the six month review of the Sustainable Food Policy, with information to be made readily available for staff on the City Council’s intranet;
• work towards the Heart of the South West declaration of at least a minimum of 50% of all food spend to be procured from growers, producers and manufacturers within the South West local region by 2028;
• co-ordinate customer surveys of City Council venues to understand customer demand for plant based food and drink, and results be made available for the six month review;
• work with the Waste & Recycling team to develop food waste collection from City Council venues, once food waste has been rolled out to residential homes;
• research options of developing a Devon Fruit and Veg Wholesale Market, utilising the Matford Centre;
• review options of installing a filtered water dispenser at the historic Guildhall; and
• explore the potential of registering all public facing Council catering venues as Refill stations under the refill water scheme.

Reason for Decision: As set out in the report.

The Executive received the report on the work undertaken by the Plant Based Food Task and Finish Group to develop a City Council Sustainable Food Policy. The cross-party Task and Finish Working Group had been setup following approval of a Notice of Motion on 13 December 2022, to ensure food provided at internal Council meetings would be plant-based foods and ready for the Annual Council meeting in May 2023.

Further work had also been undertaken to ensure that Council run external sites also had plant-based options available as part of their regular catering menu.

Four Plant Based Food Task and Finish Group meetings had been held during February and March 2023, to enable the cross party group to attain information from City Council Officers and external contributors to develop the Sustainable Food Policy .

Particular reference was made to:-

·         the policy would address plant based options at all Council owned venues;

·         there was a challenge in setting a policy to cover the various venues who had differing resources available;

·         the policy would also ensure that only plant based food options would be provided at meetings run by the Council;

·         there would be a 50% plant-based and 50% dairy, fish and meat options on menus at all venues; and

·         performance indicators would be set up to monitor progress and the impact to the Council. A report would be brought back to the Executive in six months.

Councillor D. Moore, as an opposition group leader, spoke on this item. She enquired whether the Lord Mayoralty was included under Council meetings. She highlighted the importance of ensuring that all dietary requirements were catered for and sought assurance that there would be no impact to the single use plastic policy.

The Leader, in responding requested that an information table be put together by the Service Lead for Net Zero & Business to address dietary options available to provide further clarity on the policy.

The Deputy Leader advised that the Council no longer provided food at its committee meetings and the Lord Mayoralty had been consulted as part of the work.

The Portfolio Holder for Climate Change thanked all contributors and Members for the work that had been undertaken. The subject matter was complex and there was a lot of variation for different outlets in relation to how they would operate under the policy. He highlighted that the policy would address dietary choices and its impact on the environment.

RECOMMENDED that Council:-

(1)  note the work undertaken by the Plant Based Food Task and Finish Group and endorse the new City Council Sustainable Food Policy;

(2)  agree that the Sustainable Food Policy be reviewed after six months and is brought back to Executive on 28 November 2023;

(3)  raise awareness within the local business community of the work undertaken by the South West Food Hub and the national Dynamic Purchasing UK to support local suppliers and producers to gain new public sector contracts; and

(4)  agree for the Net Zero & Business team to:-

• review the Single  ...  view the full minutes text for item 53